Iranian authorities have denied any involvement in a coup attempt in the neighboring country of Azerbaijan.
Abbas Akhoundi, Iran’s Minister for Roads and Urban Development, has insisted that the Trump administration cannot cancel the 80 aircraft and $16.6 billion deal that Iran reached with the US company Boeing in December 2016.
The Iranian regime is set to execute another man arrested as a juvenile, Amnesty International reports. According to the right group, Hamid Ahmadi has been placed in solitary confinement in Lakan prison in the capital of Gilan Province, and is awaiting his execution on February 4.
Since the Trump administration last week introduced a ban on Iranian travelers to the United States for a certain time period, hardliners in Tehran have been pressuring President Hassan Rouhani to retaliate.
On February 1, the Iranian defense minister confirmed that the Islamic Republic had carried out a ballistic missile test and vowed to continue to enhance the country’s missile capabilities despite growing international concern.
On Iran’s 9th National Day of Space Technology, President Hassan Rouhani unveiled the country’s latest communications satellite. “Nahid 1” was unveiled with “Payam,” a remote sensing satellite, and “Saman 1,” an orbital transfer system as reported by Iranian media.
Kayhan newspaper, arguably Iran’s most reactionary paper whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ran an extensive background of what it claimed to be Israeli fears about Lebanese Hezbollah’s missile arsenal. “Zionists [Israel] are deeply worried about Hezbollah’s missile strength,” the paper said.
While the Trump administration is said already to have put Iran “on notice” for its latest ballistic missile test, the Iranians began to sense a new push by the United States for more punitive actions against Tehran even while President Obama was still in the White House. For example, in her last speech to the United Nations as the U.S. ambassador to that body, Samantha Power called for more international efforts to stop Iranian military exports and specifically to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Donald Trump’s January 25 remark that he “will absolutely do safe zones in Syria” has prompted worries in Tehran.
Earlier today, the U.S. and four other allied naval forces started a three-day maritime exercise in international waters close to the Iranian coastline.
President Hassan Rouhani has again come out to strongly argue that his government’s bid to attract maximum foreign investment is to “promote national interests.” “We are Muslim and revolutionary Iranians. We neither idolize nor fear outsiders and will use constructive interaction with the world to advance public and national interests,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by Iranian media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has warned the Trump administration against “politicizing” Iran’s military activities. “We hope that the issue of Iran’s defense program… does not turn into a pretext for political games,” Press TV quoted Zarif as saying. Zarif, who spoke alongside visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, was specifically responding to the latest reports that Iranian forces have test launched a new ballistic missile.
